text: I'm 43 and got into Metallica right after MoP came out. I'm also a drummer.  In the 80's, Lars was a very good drummer. There wasn't much other music that sounded like Metallica and he had a fairly unique style. And then the Black Album came out and shit went downhill from there. His drumming got lazier and lazier. It's like he quit trying. And now when they play the Old Stuff (ie. The Good Stuff) live it shows that he really doesn't have the chops anymore to play beyond a simple 4/4 time and at a medium tempo. As soon as you throw him something other than that he's horrible now.  That all being said, it turns out he really wasn't that good in the 80's. On Justice he used punch-in's to get everything right so he didn't have to play the whole song. Lazy.